ISLAMABAD: Days after Prime Minister Imran Khan sent a fresh list of three nominees for the vacant position of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, the latter sent a slightly amended list of the opposition’s nominees to the former.

The only amendment in the opposition’s list of three nominees is the addition of former attorney general Irfan Qadir in place of former foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani. The other two names continue to be the same — Nasir Mehmood Khosa, brother of former chief justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa, and Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar, a former federal secretary.

“It is unfortunate that the process which I had initiated on 25th of September 2019, fulfilling my duty/responsibility under Article 213 (2-A) of the Constitution has been subject to unnecessary, inordinate delays and a consensus has not yet been reached. While the revised panel proposed by you […] is under consideration, in the meantime I would request you to consider the following list of nominees, which have been revised keeping in view changes in the status of the original nominees since the consultation process started,” reads the opposition leader’s letter to the PM, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

Shahbaz sends amended list of nominees for chief election commissioner to PM

The opposition leader has suggested to the prime minister to proceed in accordance with the binding judgements of the Supreme Court mentioned in his previous letters regarding appointment of ECP members.

The parliamentary committee on appointment of ECP members met here on Monday and the amended list of the opposition’s nominees received from London was shared with its members. The committee will meet again on Tuesday (today) to finalise the decision on the CEC’s appointment.

“We have reached close to a consensus,” a member of the parliamentary committee told Dawn. He said former secretary of Railways Sikandar Sultan Raja in all probability is to be picked up for the top slot of the election body.

He said the opposition had proposed names for the CEC just to meet a legal formality as it is for sure that the CEC is to be selected from the government’s list and the two members are to be picked up from the opposition’s lists. He said Nisar Durrani and Shah Mohammad Jatoi are most likely to be picked up as ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan.

In a related development, another bill proposing a way forward in case of deadlock over appointment of the CEC and ECP members landed in the Senate on Monday. The bill introduced by Senator Sirajul Haq proposes that in case of deadlock in the Parliamentary Committee over the ECP members, the matter should be referred to a judicial committee headed by the chief justice of Pakistan and comprising two senior most judges of the apex court and the chief justices of the country’s high courts.

A similar bill had earlier been introduced by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senator retired Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum who had proposed that in such a case the matter should be referred to the apex court for a final decision.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Swati opposed the idea of involving the judiciary in the matter. He, however, agreed that a way out must be found. He was of the opinion that the rules of the parliamentary panel should be amended to do away with the requirement of confirmation of a nominee with a two-thirds majority.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2020